


Devil's Game

by marjutalia



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Arthur is seventeen, Blackmail, Demon Alfred, Dub/non-con, Dysfunctional Relationships, Horror, M/M, Manipulation, Stockholm Syndrome, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-08
Updated: 2016-02-08
Packaged: 2018-05-19 04:20:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5953369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marjutalia/pseuds/marjutalia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the country falls into bad times, Prince Arthur is offered a chance to make it all better and save his people. However, the price will cost him his freedom, his identety and even his own mind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Devil's Game

_"Look, mommy, I finally did it!"_

  
_A little boy was gleaming with joy as he proudly showed the woman the small fireball between his hands._

  
_The woman smiled brightly at him and brought him into a tight embrace._

  
_"Well done, Angel," she said. "Remember that while the fire will not warm you, it will provide you a light no matter where you are."_

  
_The little boy nodded and felt his whole body getting warm with happiness over his mother's words. He wanted, more than anything, for her to be proud of him. In his eyes, there was no other person as beautiful as she was, and it always filled him with pride whenever someone would comment on how much he looked like her._

  
_"One question though, Angel."_

  
_The little boy looked his mother in the eyes, and a sense of worry began growing inside him as he saw that his mother's warm eyes had grown icy cold._

  
_"Did you not think about how it would affect me whenever you ran out to train with that demon?"_

  
_She tightened her embrace around him, but it was not loving and comforting as her hugs usually were. It was becoming more and more difficult to breathe as her arms were slowly crushing his body._

  
_"You killed me, Angel! I loved you and if you had only listened to me, I would still be alive!"_

  
_"I didn't mean to, mommy! I swear I did not mean to!"_

  
_His mother laughed, but it was not with her voice. This voice was deep and menacing._

  
_"Oh, but you did, Angel," the voice said in a mocking tone. "You killed your mother. If you hadn't been so easy to manipulate, she would still have been alive."_

  
_The little boy was desperately struggling to get away from the grip. The world around him was blackening and he was slowly losing what little strength he had in his body._

  
_The last thing he heard before he lost everything was a voice whispering in his ears:_

  
_"_ You belong to me, Angel. I will not rest until you are mine. _"_

  
\---

  
Arthur woke up with a jolt.

  
He was shaking and panting, grasping for air as he tried to calm himself down. His hair was damp from sweat and it was stuck uncomfortably to his face and tears were streaming down from his eyes.

  
It was always the same nightmare. For almost as long as he could remember he had been having the same nightmare two-three times a week. It never changed and it always left him feeling like he was actually suffocating. The only thing he knew was that they had started sometime after his mother's death.

  
Once he had finally gained control of his breathing, he stood up and slowly walked over to open the window and breathed in the cool, fresh night air. It always made him feel slightly better and calmed his senses down a little. He wiped the tears off his face and tried not to think of the dream. He ought to be used to it by now, but even though it had always been there it would always affect him just as strongly as it did when he was a child.

  
Going back to sleep was pointless as he could never fall back asleep afterward. Instead, he closed the window and got dressed. He was in desperate need of a glass of water.

  
The castle was dead silent. His father and brothers would not be up until later in the morning, half of the servants had the day off and the other half would not be up either until after sunrise. The only ones who were still up were the guards who had night watch. They bowed before him and he nodded in recognition to them. Neither one said anything to the other, they were used to seeing him up before everyone else by now.

  
When he arrived at the kitchen he noticed that the head of the chefs, Romulus Vargas, was already awake and in full preparation.

  
"Good morning, Romulus," he said.

  
The man jerked and turned around to see who else was up at this ungodly hour.

  
"Oh, Arthur, how many times have I told you not to sneak up on me like that?"

  
Romulus Vargas was an elderly, yet still a very handsome man who had once been a soldier in the Royal Army. He retired ten years ago to settle down and spend the time to take care of his family. Four years ago, he had come back and asked for another job. He had explained that he needed to do something and could no longer stay put. He had not said why but from his facial expression, it was clear that something terribly tragically had happened. When his grandson had gotten married to a soldier and moved in with his husband to the castle grounds, The King had been kind enough to arrange so that Romulus could be near his grandson and new grandson-in-law.

Arthur liked Romulus. He remembered him when he had been a soldier in the Army, and now he was always there for Arthur to talk to whenever he needed to. He was the only one who knew Arthur still had those terrible dreams after all this time.

  
"Another dream I take it."

  
Arthur nodded and whispered out a weak thank you as Romulus handed him a glass of water.

  
"Do you want to talk about it?"

  
Arthur shook his head. This was another reason why he liked Romulus' company after one of these nightmares. Romulus never pushed him into talking about it. He just sat there with you and let you know that he was there for you.

  
"Will they ever stop?" Arthur asked.

  
"I honestly can’t answer that," Romulus said. "Some go away entirely, some will only get milder and fewer as time passes and some will always be the same."

  
He looked down and Arthur could tell he was fighting to keep his tears contained. He felt bad for the man. Romulus knew everything about him while he had no idea what had happened to Romulus.

  
They sat there for a while in complete silence, thinking about the past and what had led them to be where they were today.

  
"I need to continue with the preparing for today," Romulus said after a while. "The rest of the servants will be up soon, and it is only appropriate for the chief to already have started when the others arrive."

  
They both knew those had been old-fashioned ideas already when Romulus had first started training for the Royal Army. It was only an excuse he used when he needed to get his mind off of something.

  
"Romulus, you are always there for me when I need to," Arthur said and took the older man's hand in his own. "If you ever want to talk about what happened, I will be there to listen."

  
Romulus nodded.

  
"Thank you, Arthur."

  
As Romulus began preparing for the day Arthur decided to go the library while he waited for the rest of the family to wake up. The librarian had arranged so that he had his own private key to use whenever he wanted to after he had caught Arthur using magic to get in late one night.

  
He had read almost every book in there already, and mostly he would just be reading books he had already read a second time. Though sometimes he would notice new stuff he had not noticed before, which made him read the book in a new light and it was an experience in itself.

  
The library was a relatively large, two stories room with books from all over the world. The librarian's husband was a well-known explorer and whenever he came back home he would bring a new book with him for Arthur to read. Arthur loved the books: whether they were fictional books or fact books (especially if they consisted of enchantments he had not heard of). How he always found them in English was a mystery to Arthur, but knowing Tino Vainamoinen Arthur figured that not knowing was probably the better alternative.

  
Speaking of which, Tino must have come home that night because on Berwald's desk was a book Arthur had never seen before.

  
" _Le Liber de Diablo_ "

  
Arthur laughed at the title. It was also typical of Tino to pick up something with such a ridiculous title and bring it home to Arthur.

  
He locked the library door behind him, picked the book up and went to sit at his favorite spot by the window. He had promised Berwald that he would not take anything when Berwald wasn't there, which Arthur had no problem with. He liked spending time there when it was completely quiet.

  
He sat down in his usual chair by the window where you had a clear view of the backyard and the sun which had justrisen. It was the perfect spot as Arthur loved to just bathe in the early morning sun.

  
The book felt odd in his hands. It was made out of a material he had never felt before. When he opened it all the amusement he, at first, felt washed away as he looked at the pages: gruesome imagery in black and red that showed people getting tortured and mutilated in horrific manners, and pictures of creatures he couldn't even imagine in his most terrifying nightmares.

  
Memories of last night's dream came back. He saw himself kicking and screaming as the creature dragged him down to hell to torture him in the worst way possible. However, something compelled him to keep reading, even though he had no idea what it was saying. He understood the basics of Latin, but not enough to read an entire book. Plus, the writing was in old handwriting, which required him to concentrate extra hard.

  
When he finally came to the last page of the book, his body froze in fear.

  
On a single, otherwise empty page were two sentences written in what looked disturbingly like fresh blood:

  
" _You belong to me, Angel. I will not rest until you are mine_."

  
He screamed and threw the book away. He did not want to look at it. He was already plagued by nightmares at night, he did not need them during the day as well. The same fear he always felt after each dream was creeping up inside him until he felt it was suffocating him.

  
He ran as fast as he could out from the library, not wanting to spend any more time in there. Right now, anywhere else was better than being near that dreadful book.

  
When Arthur neared the Royal Chambers, he ran straight into his father.

  
"Isn't this a little bit too early for a morning run, even for you?" his father asked. "At least, go out in the forest if you really must."

  
"Yes father, sorry father," Arthur said and walked past his father.

  
"I'll tell the servants to run you a bath, you are dripping with sweat."

  
"Thank you father, but I can draw my own bath," Arthur said.

  
"Whatever suits you best. Just make sure you are clean during breakfast."

  
Arthur didn't answer. He knew he did not look his best. He had made no effort in cleaning himself up after the night, and then he had ran from one end of the palace to the other.

  
Thankfully his father had not bothered the servants about him. He knew how to draw himself a bath, thank you very much, and he knew best how warm he wanted it to be.  
In fact, Arthur didn't even bother to warm it up. A cold bath would probably be just what he needed right now to come back to reality. He did not even bother to take off his clothes. They needed to be washed anyway so why not get it over with this instant? He could always take them off in the bath.

  
He sat there for a while, first with his clothes on and then without them. It did wonder for him and he slowly started gaining a sense of reality. He took a deep breath and dived into the water so that his head was also under water, enjoying the feeling of just getting clean.

  
A loud bang on the door forced him back from his blissful state.

  
"Arthur? Are you done soon! You know you are not the only one in this family!"

  
"I'm done, Allistor. Just let me get dry and then it's all yours."

  
"Just hurry up!"

  
Arthur got up and covered himself with his towel. Once he had dried himself he hung up his wet clothes and walked out only to be greeted by the sight of Allistor in only his tiny towel around the waist.

  
"You took your time," Allistor said and did not even bother to wait for Arthur to answer as he walked into the chamber and locked the door behind him.

  
Arthur heard Allistor swear loudly and throw curses at Arthur as he stepped into the cold water.

  
On his way back to his room he ran into his sister Kathleen.

  
"How many times must I ask you boys to take your clothes with you when you take a bath? That way you can change there, and not have to walk around almost naked."

  
"I lost track of time," Arthur said. "Though I would be done before you got up, dear sister."

  
She punched him lightly on the arm and Arthur showed her his tongue.

  
"Mature, Arthur, very mature. And you are supposed to be the next Court Magician?"

  
"Careful, dearest sister. I may yet turn you into a toad."

  
"You wouldn't."

  
"And why is that?"

  
"Because I have a hard time believing you would turn me into a toad before Allistor and Dylan."

  
Arthur laughed.

  
"A butterfly then," he said.

  
"Just go and get dressed. I need to tell Allistor to get out of the bath soon. Mother Nature knows he takes _forever_."

  
With that, she ran towards the bath chambers. Arthur felt almost compelled to follow her and see it for himself, but he figured out she would not appreciate it. Allistor was not exactly modest about his body, and Kathleen was a bit of a prude which Allistor was more than aware of. Having another brother standing there, half-naked, laughing at them would only make her more infuriating.

  
When he got back to his room he noticed that it was unusually cold. He was almost going to take his suit and go to his brother Kieran's room to change when he saw that the window was open.

  
‘I could have sworn I closed it when I left, he thought as he walked over to close it again.

  
" _Angel_."

  
Every feeling of joy left him once again at the sound of that word, precisely like in his dreams. However, this was not a dream, he was sure of that. This was reality and he was wide awake.

  
" _Look down, Angel_."

  
Arthur did not want to, but if he did not look down he would go crazy. With closed eyes, he slowly looked down and opened them.

  
Everything inside him froze. Out there, in the front yard in front of the gate stood a man dressed in a cloak that was covering him so that it was impossible for Arthur to see what he looked like. However, there was no doubt that he was looking straight at Arthur and even though Arthur could not see his face, he held Arthur's eyes glued to him.

  
" _You belong to me, Angel. I will not rest until you are mine_."

  
With a jerk, Arthur broke himself free of the spell and slammed the window shut.

**Author's Note:**

> So that was the first chapter of my first story. 
> 
> The story takes place in a different world than ours, even though a lot of things are taken from real life, such as the names of the languages.
> 
> Hopefully it was not too bad. I would love to hear your opinions, whether they are positive, negative, encouraging or critical.


End file.
